The Niagara News is the community newspaper of Niagara College located in Welland and Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada. It is created and produced by the students of the Niagara College Journalism program.

Turning off Niagara Falls expected to help tourism

New York State is set to repeat history by dewatering its side of Niagara Falls at a $24-million cost as it replaces two aging bridges. The move is required to allow rebuilding and repair of the two bridges connecting the City of Niagara Falls to the State Park Islands in the middle of the falls.

“New York State hopes to repair or rebuild two bridges that cross the Niagara River from the mainland to Goat Island, just above the American Falls,” says Sherman Zavitz, Niagara Parks Commission (NPC) historian.

“To do this safely, it’s recommended that the channel taking water to the American Falls be dewatered.”

However, in a meeting on Wednesday, New York State Parks’ (NYSP) officials decided to delay the dewatering process.

“It was stated [in the meeting] that the work will not take place until at least 2019 and perhaps not then unless the funding is available,” adds Zavitz.

The bridges in question are now 115 years old and desperately need replacement.

The two stone-faced arch bridges are also known as American Falls Bridges and were built in 1900-1901. These are currently used to provide pedestrian access to Goat Island for more than a million visitors every year.

“In 2004, the structures had structurally deteriorated to the point that it was necessary to close the bridges,” says NYSP’s draft design report.

The bridges have been performing adequately since then, but weren’t intended to be used long-term.

“The temporary bridges are not consistent with the character of the park, provide an aesthetically unappealing experience for park visitors, restrict views of the rapids, and are narrower than the concrete arch bridges built in 1900-1901,” the report adds.

“Furthermore, the concrete arches remain in-place below the temporary bridges, and continued deterioration of the concrete arch bridges has been observed and documented in recent bridge inspection reports.”

For the dewatering process, the staff plans to construct a temporary cofferdam spanning from the upstream tip of Goat Island to the mainland. The placement of the cofferdam will ensure the stoppage of water flow and expose the bedrock.

The Niagara River flows approximately 85 per cent over the Canadian Horseshoe Falls and the remaining 15 per cent over the American Falls. The cofferdam will redirect the entire river flow to the Horseshoe Falls.

The dewatering of American Falls is expected to be a huge tourism draw for the Canadian side of the falls as the tourists will have the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to witness the riverbed.

Depending on the planned construction scenarios, the American Falls may be deprived of water for approximately six to nine months, from April to December, lasting for an entire summer tourism season.

Due to the innovations and changes in bridge design practices over the years, the replacement bridge won’t mimic the existing structures and remain visually different.

Three main replacement alternatives are developed with public access and park operation needs in mind. The new designs are expected to utilize aesthetics to be consistent with the park setting.

NYSP hopes to get the design approval this summer and projects $24 million as the cost of construction.

However, at this time, the availability of the capital funding is unknown and the NYSP hope to get enough funds by 2019 to get the project underway.

If the project is approved, this will be the second time the Falls will be silenced.

It happened before in June 1969 when American engineers scoured the rock face for crevices and sheering lines to assess the geological stability of the underwater surface. That resulted in hundreds of tourists turning out to see the Falls. Some of them took away the coins in baskets thrown into the falls over time.

At the time, the project lasted five months, revealing two human bodies of a man and a woman.